California Institute of Technology Cal Tech - Big T Yearbook (Pasadena, CA)

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FACULTY Russell Porter and ?r. 102m A. Anderson students, and alumni which has en- couraged student participation in extra-cutricular activities. EACH of RUSSELL PORTER,S explora- tions has reached farther than the last into cold and silent space. His first journey was into the Arctic with COOK on an expedition Which igno- miniously became lost, but his later voyages with PEARY and ZIEGLER, on Which he served as artist, astrono- mer, and topographer, penetrated the polar regions. During the two years he was marooned with ZIEGLER in the Arctic the observation of the stars became his passion. That astro- nomical enthusiasm continued after his return, for PORTER then began to build his own refiecting telescopes. He became so proficient in their con- 14 struction that the Institutes observa- tory council sought him in his uStella Faneii-his mountain temple to the stars-for his advice on the two- hundred inch telescope. Now, as an expert machinist and Optician, he is in charge of the Astrophysics Shop, Where the giant instrument is being built. PROFESSOR JOHN A. ANDERSON dis- likes publicity, and although he has been working on one of the most widely publicised scientific projects of the past few years, the 200-inch telescope, he declines to tell any more of himself than can be found in uXths Who. As Dean of Freshmen, DR. JOHN R. MACARTHUR helps, at one time or

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HAD not DR. LINUs PAULING a sense of humor, he would be annoy- ed by the frequent references to his youth. Just nine years after his graduation from college he was made a full professor of physical chem- istry at the Institute, and in the same year he won the famous Langmuir prize for the most distinguished work by a young scientist. When he was elected to be the youngest member of the National Academy of Sciences, he disclaimed all credit by saying the honor was due to his good looks. By mathematical interpretations of Laue photographs and by the use of wave mechanics DR. PAULING has obtained the material for an astonish- ing number of papers on crystal structure, the size of ions, and the nature of the chemical bond. These papers, which are important contri- butions to modern chemistry, are sometimes rather polemical, and DR. PAULING enjoys demolishing a con- clusion which would be wrong even if its premise were correct, which it is not. PROFESSOR FRANKLIN T HOMAS did not abandon his practical and public work when he became head of the Division of- Civil and Mechanical Engineering, for he has been a mem- ber of the Board of Directors of Pasadena, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and president of the Community Chest. As the climax of his efforts to obtain water and power for Southern California he is now Pasadenais representative on the board of the Metropolitan Water District. As chairman of the Student Rela- tions Committee of the faculty, PROFESSOR THOMAS has helped to improve conditions on the campus, and this spring he became head of the committee of faculty members, 13 FACULTY Lima Pauling

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another, almost every undergraduate on the campus, and although freshe men resent having anything done for their own good, in their maturer years they usually appreciate the assistance. After his own undergraduate days at the University of Manitoba DR. MACARTHUR taught English Literature and Languages at several schools, and he was for a time a social worker on Ellis Island. When he came to the Institute as. the third member of the Humanities Division he organized the campus chapter of Pi Kappa Delta, the hon- orary debating fraternity of which he was once national president. De- spite the cares for his freshmen and the prospective Ph.D. candidates to whom he teaches German and French, DR. MACARTHUR has a rare deans gaiety and a highly refined satirical wit. DEAN FREDERIC HINRICHS, 111., served in the army after his gradua- tion from West Point until he retired to accept a teaching position at the University of Rochester. When he had finished his war services in the Ordinance Department, he came to the Institute as assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He was soon made full professor and dean of upper classmen, and he intends to hold those positions as long as both he and the students benefit from their mutual association. DEAN HIN- RJCHS has earned the sincere regard of those who meet him either as teacher, dean, or helpful chairman of the Student Aid Committee. 15 FACULTY Dean Macartbur Dean Him'iclax